There is a trail that goes north into the woods just behind the Hanover Food Co-op. It takes seven minutes to walk there from the Green and about 30 minutes to get to a lookout point from the sign at the trailhead. Plain and simple. You want to take a walk in the woods? Follow former Hanover resident Bill Bryson's lead.
The Velvet Rocks trail is part of the Appalachian Trail, a 2,160-mile footpath that runs from Springer Mountain, Ga., to Mount Katahdin, Maine. Cabin and Trail, the hiking and trailwork division of the Dartmouth Outing Club, maintains 70 miles of the trail from Vermont to Mount Moosilauke in Warren, N. H. Trail maintenance is necessary not just to keep the trail passable for hikers but also to protect the environment from water damage and erosion. It's also a great way to get outside, whether one's plodding through snow or leaf piles.
Student volunteers on Cabin and Trail work-trips build water bars to divert water from the trail in order to prevent erosion, clear fallen trees from the corridor, build wooden bridges over rising streams and maintain trail signs and blazes. This work is necessary because the Appalachian Trail -- especially in areas like Hanover where the trail is extremely accessible to community members and students for everyday use -- is heavily traveled.
Despite all the snow we had in December, Velvet Rocks was passable in January with just tennis shoes. Foot traffic has compacted the snow and snowshoes are completely unnecessary. There is a three-sided shelter less than a mile up the trail meant to accommodate hikers and campers year-round. This shelter and the privy nearby were built and are maintained by Dartmouth students. Lauren Hendrickson '04 organized the building of a new Velvet Rocks privy just last spring. I hiked to the sight with the privy's wooden seat around my neck, and others brought up more wood, tools, stain and aluminum roofing.
This summer I hiked up Moose Mountain with other members of Cabin and Trail and helped fell trees in order to build a new Appalachian Trail shelter. Moose Mountain is a small mountain about ten miles north of Hanover. The trail is very similar to the Velvet Rocks section and also popular with community members and any student willing to make the trek on bike or by trail from Hanover. Rory Gawler '05 has been in charge of the Moose Mountain Shelter project since last summer. He worked everyday with Ben Honig '05 and other sophomores and students on-campus through the interim before Summer Term felling trees and stripping bark. In the middle of the night after those trips , I'd wake up to go to the bathroom and pick a couple of dead black flies out of my eye. I learned how to swing an ax, though I'm still pretty pathetic at it, and tasted fresh split wood that perspired with sap that was still running.
The work on the shelter continued into the fall. Two Freshman DOC Trips worked on the structure and the privy, also clearing a new trail to the shelter and readying the foundation for the laying of logs. The Dartmouth Alumni Magazine wrote a story about the students working on the project and photographed Gawler and company. The group looked stunning in Carhartt overalls, holding axes and showing sap-stained faces.
One of Rory's goals from the beginning was to construct the shelter using only hand tools. He never hauled a chainsaw up the mountain or used any energy other than manpower. It sometimes took more than nine people to maneuver one cross-hauler in order to carry a clean log to the roped-off site, yet the bulk of the work was still completed before winter. Some days in the summer more than 15 students volunteered to work on the shelter. Thanks to student help and initiative, construction progressed quickly and Rory plans on completing the structure in the spring. The old shelter on Moose Mountain was in very poor condition, but because of student interest in trailwork -- despite academic pressure and often undesirable outdoor conditions -- it will soon be replaced.
Members of Cabin and Trail have been maintaining trails and shelters within the Upper Valley for 95 years. Fred Harris '11 founded the DOC and Cabin and Trail in 1909 and quickly began blazing trails in the surrounding woods for cross-country skiing and winter sports. The trails maintained by the DOC existed before the idea for the Appalachian Trail was conceived and organized and will hopefully continue to provide a simple and lasting way to experience the outdoors -- both for the students doing the trail-work and for those who decide to explore the path heading north from Hanover.
